I still follow the NFL over the next couple months with the camps and OTA's. I'm am content knowing all the changes my team made. I can now enjoy our limited spring and summer we have around here in PA. The draft is already too late. I have to wait for it with anticipation. May would kill me. I'd like to be able to enjoy these events while I'm stuck indoors with bad weather. The Sat of the draft this year was the first nice day here and I got grief because I stayed inside to watch day 3. My kids want to go out and play and its the first time to mow. May is busy with yard work and doing things outside with the kids. Our local amusement park opens that weekend and family wins out. The draft will be ruined for me. I'll have to tape day 3.

I actually, could see this plan backfiring, early April, the weather isn't very nice and staying home to watch the draft is an easy choice to make, mid May is a whole different story, the weather can be wet but like this year, it can also be wonderful and TV viewership drops way off in May. The days are also longer so they will be up against that as well.

For hard core fans like us, it won't make much of an impact but for casual fans, viewership may well drop off significantly. TV schedulers know these facts and begin running reruns starting in May, it will be interesting to see if the NFL can buck these trends.

So they would do most of Free Agency (save the June 1 cuts) before the Combine and Draft? That makes a lot of sense. Teams will know who they've signed and be able to spend more time focusing on drafting for needs. It sucks to push the draft back, but well it makes a lot of sense.

I actually, could see this plan backfiring, early April, the weather isn't very nice and staying home to watch the draft is an easy choice to make, mid May is a whole different story, the weather can be wet but like this year, it can also be wonderful and TV viewership drops way off in May. The days are also longer so they will be up against that as well.

For hard core fans like us, it won't make much of an impact but for casual fans, viewership may well drop off significantly. TV schedulers know these facts and begin running reruns starting in May, it will be interesting to see if the NFL can buck these trends.

The change of the draft to "prime time" has lost my viewing as it stands. Living on the west coast I am at work until about pick #20. And then what's the point of watching, especially considering I have to get dinner going.

The change of the draft to "prime time" has lost my viewing as it stands. Living on the west coast I am at work until about pick #20. And then what's the point of watching, especially considering I have to get dinner going.

Is that really worse than having to get up early on a Saturday and Sunday to watch the Draft on the West Coast?

The Goodell hate is absolutely bananas. The man is quite possibly the best NFL commissioner yet. These changes WILL have an impact on the league's revenue and keep fans who aren't die-hard NFL fans attentions longer. Great move from a great commissioner. Go Goodell!

The Goodell hate is absolutely bananas. The man is quite possibly the best NFL commissioner yet. These changes WILL have an impact on the league's revenue and keep fans who aren't die-hard NFL fans attentions longer. Great move from a great commissioner. Go Goodell!

But the point isn't about attention on the NFL 365 days a year. The point is the utility and purpose of it. And it hurts the usefulness of the NFL offseason.

Brilliant letting one of Scott Pioli's henchmen have his own team to ruin. One of the premier GM jobs in the NFL and it gets handed to a stupid **** who makes three facepalm moves for every good one. Awesome. Just like handing a new Mercedes to a 16 year old girl who's already been in three wrecks.

Certainly will hurt ratings, especially if Tiger's success continues and builds. Plus the Kentucky Derby is the weekend before and that'll take away some of the attention. The end of April is the best time of year because the start of baseball has taken its turn, basketball/hockey playoffs are still in the early stages and the golf/horse racing are on deck. Now they must compete with much more.

So fans have to wait 2 more long weeks, and rookies get 2 weeks less with the playbook/team.

The SB in 2014 will be on Feb 2, and the draft will be May 8...3 long months of waiting. I don't care about the Combine and the hype around FA only lasts for about 48 hours so Feb-May is going to be a dead period NFL wise for me...

Not a fan of this move. I understand that the NFL wants the draft in the May sweeps period though. w/e...

Nobody cares about golf and horses, so that isn't any competition. I just don't want to wait longer, dammit.

The Players drew a 5.7 on the ratings, obviously helped by Tiger being in contention, the Derby drew a 10.4, and the NFL Draft, while we love it, drew a 2.1 through the whole weekend and a 4.1 during the first round.

I don't think more competition from other sports is going to help the NFL's ratings for the draft.

Believe me, the NFL can, they only care about safety because they are facing thousands of lawsuits over injuries, money rules the day with owners and Goodell is just their mouth piece.

They only care about increased safety because of lawsuits because (primary causality here) of fans that want to see ever bigger hits. The bigger, faster, stronger is not just a product of competition. It's also a product of fan interest.

There is monetary incentive not only to not care, but to pump it up more.

The Players drew a 5.7 on the ratings, obviously helped by Tiger being in contention, the Derby drew a 10.4, and the NFL Draft, while we love it, drew a 2.1 through the whole weekend and a 4.1 during the first round.

I don't think more competition from other sports is going to help the NFL's ratings for the draft.

Great fact hunting! Was the 10.4 for the Derby the ratings for the pre-show and race, or just for the 2 minute race and post-show? Given how quickly the Derby goes, the NFL probably isn't concerned with it hurting their ratings. The TPC on the other hand, the NFL should pay attention to because of the advertising money.

If you think about the Venn diagram, the Derby and TPC take up much of the same market and advertisers. The NFL and TPC would share a fair number of viewers and advertisers. Yet between the NFL and Derby, there are few viewers or advertisers they really compete for.

Day 1 of the golf will have finished before the draft even begins on Thursday night. Same for Day 2 on the Friday. By Saturday afternoon it's only the hardcore NFL fans who watch Rds 3-7 anyway. I don't see it affecting TV ratings.

Great fact hunting! Was the 10.4 for the Derby the ratings for the pre-show and race, or just for the 2 minute race and post-show? Given how quickly the Derby goes, the NFL probably isn't concerned with it hurting their ratings. The TPC on the other hand, the NFL should pay attention to because of the advertising money.

I believe the Derby number is for the whole time slot it took up on NBC.

My initial point wasn't necessarily about the hard numbers for the viewership about each event, but rather that the NFL Draft will not be the only thing drawing significant interest in the week during the draft.